


The Marrying Kind

by RingThroughSpace



Category: Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries
Genre: Adultery, Angst, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-07-09
Updated: 2015-07-09
Packaged: 2018-04-08 10:20:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 629
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4301028
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RingThroughSpace/pseuds/RingThroughSpace
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>She'd known her husband long enough to tell when he was lying to her. She'd been separated long enough to wish he wouldn't.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Marrying Kind

**Author's Note:**

> Clearly not mine.

Her sister's phone was clammy in her hands and the front room where it stayed was embarrassingly public. Rosie had almost - _almost_ \- learned to ignore those details. After this long, this way of communicating with her husband had come to feel familiar.

So had the subject of conversation.

"You were with her again, weren't you?"

"Not intentionally, I assure you."

She was silent. She'd known her husband long enough to tell when he was lying to her. She'd been separated long enough to wish he wouldn't.

One of the maids - Katie, she thought - peeked around the corner, then backed away when she saw Rosie on the phone. Rosie held her breath but couldn't hear footsteps in the hallway. Katie was still there, then. Over the phone, she heard muffled voices and shuffled papers. As usual, her life was on public display. She swallowed hard, trying to fight back tears. Perhaps she should have had this conversation at home - _his home,_ she corrected herself - but no. Not at their table, not with their bed in the next room. _His_ table. _His_ bed.

She wondered if he'd bothered to take down her picture.

"Jack, I know you're - together." Her voice was as quiet as she could make it. If she didn't think of Katie listening nearby, of bored switchboard operators idly searching the lines, if she didn't think of how embarrassingly _public_ all of this was, perhaps she could speak without tears.

"Rosie-"

"Don't lie to me, Jack, please. Helen Parker saw you kiss her last week. _She_ called to ask me if we had divorced. She couldn't imagine that my husband would carry on an affair in public." She swallowed hard. "We're separated. I would understand if you saw someone on the side, but I wish you'd be discrete."

"I swore to be faithful to you." He sounded hurt.

The worst part was, she believed him. Almost. "I want to believe you," she said. "But when I talk to Helen --" She swallowed. "I sound like a fool. It looks bad for me."

"What am I supposed to do? She shows up at crime scenes on her own. Arresting her barely slows her down." He sounded more amused than frustrated.

 _Accept the promotion Father offered you._ It had been the solution - the obvious solution - she'd proposed to him months ago. It had also been the cause of their current separation. Jack would never do it.

Her husband was smart enough to think of his own solutions. If he hadn't thought of any yet, it was because he didn't want to.

She drew a breath. "We could get a divorce."

 

"Did you tell him?" Sidney had asked her earlier that day.

She'd shaken her head. "No. _She_ was there - and I just couldn't."

Enough time had passed since their divorce that Rosie could almost - almost - think clearly about her relationship with Jack. He'd insisted throughout the divorce that he wasn't involved with Phryne Fisher, and perhaps that was even true. Their marriage would have ended either way, and, without her, without believing her husband had moved on, Rosie would never have had the courage to connect with the real love of her life.

That didn't make it easier to accept that the famed lady detective hadn't even recognized her name.

"Are you ready, my love?" Sidney called from the doorway. He gave her a meaningful look. She turned around and drew in a breath.

"I didn't get the time to tell you amidst the fuss. Sidney and I are engaged." She almost hesitated. "It's very different the second time around."

It felt cruel, but she hoped it would hit the mark. After all, if there was anything the society gossips agreed upon, it was that Phryne Fisher was not the marrying kind.


End file.
